


and above all this bustle

by single_spark



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Carlos' family - Freeform, Cecil Goes Outside Night Vale, Christmas, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secret Santa, some other characters are mentioned, this was so hard to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 18:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5507735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/single_spark/pseuds/single_spark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Christmas, Cecil and Carlos go to visit Carlos' family.</p>
<p>A wtnvss Secret Santa gift for tenticalkhoshekh on Tumblr. Sorry this is so late! I hope you like it. Happy holidays!</p>
            </blockquote>





	and above all this bustle

It was almost Christmas. The week of, in fact, and that meant Carlos was going to visit his family. (Well. Not all of his family. Just some of them, because some of them lived an okay distance away and were pretty cool, and others lived a less okay distance away and were what Cecil would call ‘uncool’.) This time, Cecil insisted on coming along, despite Carlos’ protests that it was ‘a lot of people’ and ‘not what you’re used to’. Cecil had never even left Night Vale, except on his trips to Europe, which Carlos honestly wasn’t sure had even really happened. He was researching that. 

“That’s the point,” Cecil said stubbornly, reaching out to fiddle with a lock of his boyfriend’s hair. “I’m still going to Abby’s for the real holiday, so I won’t be missing out on anything, and I think it’s about time that I meet your relatives. Besides, I’ve lived here my whole life. I could use a little taste of the outside world.” 

Carlos caught Cecil’s hand, unable to keep himself from smiling. “Okay. Fine. But I get to say I told you so.” Cecil whooped and dashed off, presumably to ask Station Management for the week off, which left Carlos standing there with a ridiculous smile and a lot of packing to do. 

 

...

Carlos was driving, since he knew the way to California. Cecil barely knew where California was. They’d had to cash in a little favor from the Erikas in order to get the car to leave Night Vale. Roads leading ‘out’ of the town always seemed to curve around and take the driver back where they came. Carlos told his boyfriend that this was a long drive, but it was easier than trying to find a flight that would take them where they wanted to go. (Much less try and find the Randy Newman Memorial Night Vale Airport, which frequently disappeared and reappeared at various locations throughout town.) 

On the drive, Cecil played his own music: a mix of Aerosmith, Luke Bryan, and something Michelle Nguyen at Dark Owl Records had called 'invisible death core'. Carlos was feeling pretty ambivalent about it- he didn’t dislike it, exactly, although the frequent bouts of deafening static coming from the speakers whenever it got to an invisible death core song prevented too much conversation. They passed the time by playing I Spy. This was hard, because most of the area they passed through was desert, so their answers were almost always "sand". 

When they finally reached Carlos' parents' house, Cecil turned off the music and straightened his sweater (the one that Old Woman Josie had knitted for him out of a skein of alpaca wool). "You sure they'll like it?" he asked, and Carlos could tell he was a little nervous. 

"Positive," Carlos assured him brightly, leaning over to kiss Cecil's cheek. The toothed necklace that Cecil was wearing nipped at his ear. 

As they approached the front door, Carlos took Cecil's hand, the other of which was holding a dish of cranberry sauce that they'd made together as a gift. Cecil had used his friend Earl’s recipe, which Carlos thought was a bit... unconventional, but suited him fine. 

A short, dark woman with glasses and a perfect smile opened the door before they could knock. "Carlos!" she exclaimed, and Carlos let go of Cecil’s hand so they could embrace. 

"Hi, Iris," Carlos said, a bit sheepish. "Um, this is my boyfriend Cecil. Cecil, this is my sister.” 

“Hi, Cecil!” Iris said, beaming as she let go of her brother. She was twenty-eight, but looked about thirteen because of her height. “Come on in, everyone’s at the table.”

The house smelled like cinnamon and sugar and fresh bread. Carlos inhaled deeply as they went inside, closing the door behind them. He felt a tentative hand on his and glanced behind him to smile reassuringly at Cecil, who was looking nervous again. “It’ll be fine,” he said quietly. “Everyone’s going to love you, don’t worry about that.” Cecil nodded and stayed quiet, but Carlos noted that he had relaxed a little bit. 

Iris, still smiling, led them into the dining room, where Carlos counted his parents, two more of his siblings, their spouses, and a couple of nieces and nephews running around. Alba, the youngest niece, raced past Cecil at full speed, nearly knocking him over. The grip on Carlos’ hand became twice as tight, and Carlos pulled Cecil close to him instinctively as everyone at the table looked up almost in unison. 

There was a brief moment of complete, terrifying silence. Nobody so much as blinked. 

Then, all at once, Carlos’ relatives broke into welcoming smiles, a chorus of people inviting them to take a seat. Some stood up to hug Carlos and talk rapidly in Spanish about his hair, his glasses, if he was eating well. He waved them off with a laugh: yes, he’d gotten a haircut; no, he didn’t need Tio to fix his glasses; of course he was eating well, he’d gained weight, couldn’t they tell? 

When he was able to sit down, he ended up between Cecil and his older sister Mari. Cecil was seated next to an empty chair, which ended up being Alba’s, as they found out when her mother (Carlos’ sister-in-law) carried the kicking five-year-old over and sat her down. 

Within seconds, Alba was engaged in conversation with Cecil. “Carlos says you have a cat,” the girl challenged, and Cecil promptly pulled out sketches of Khoshekh to show her. They pored over them together. “That’s his nose?” she asked, wide-eyed. 

Relieved that they were getting along, Carlos turned to Mari, who handed him a plate and started to quiz him about his work. Admittedly, Carlos didn’t have a lot to tell, but even the idea of talking about science cheered him immensely. He talked for a good five minutes until Mari smiled at him, ruffled his hair, and told him fondly to shut up. 

Carlos cleared his throat, only a little embarrassed, and leaned over to Cecil, who was staring forlornly at his plate. “What’s the matter?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. Then he saw that there was a single bread roll on his plate. 

“Alba got it for me, but I don’t want to touch it,” Cecil said in a stage whisper. “It might bite. Plus, it’s illegal.” 

“Not here,” Carlos reminded him with a smile, but took the roll and tossed it to his brother’s son Emilio, who threw it to the dog. Cecil grabbed Carlos’ hand and examined it carefully, then let go, satisfied. “Where is Alba, anyway?” Carlos asked, noting the empty chair. 

“She’s--” 

Alba suddenly appeared from under the table and latched onto Cecil’s leg. “Not letting go until you come with me,” she said, shutting her eyes tightly. 

Carlos laughed. “Looks like you’ve made a friend.”

“I want to put the star on the tree,” the girl continued, opening one eye and then closing it again. “And Mami said it was okay. But I can’t reach.”

“Sounds like a dilemma,” Cecil agreed, attempting to stand up. He wobbled and caught Carlos’ arm, which Carlos had extended to catch him. “Sure, I'll help. Can Carlos come too?”

Alba pored over this for a moment, frowning at Carlos. She shrugged. “Yeah,” she said finally. “He’s not very tall though.” Carlos bent down to pry her off of Cecil’s leg and set her upright. 

“Ouch,” Carlos said with a chuckle as she bolted off towards the living room. Cecil grinned and held out his hand. Carlos took it, and they followed behind her. 

...

The tree was mostly decorated, covered with colored lights and small homemade ornaments. Carlos spotted a few that he and his siblings had made when they were kids in elementary school, and pointed them out to Cecil, who had hoisted Alba onto his shoulders and who leaned down to look at them and smile affectionately. “That’s you?” 

“Yep,” Carlos confirmed, touching the hanging photo frame gently. He smiled at the frizzy hair and thick glasses. He could hardly believe that he’d come this far from how small he was then. “I think I was about ten.”

“I don’t remember a single thing about being ten,” Cecil said matter-of-factly. Alba tugged on his hair to get him to straighten up. “Ow, okay, okay.” Carlos took the star off of its spot on the mantle and stood on his tiptoes to pass it up to Alba. The little girl swayed, but Cecil held her tight, and she reached out and placed the star firmly on the top of the tree.  
“Perfect,” she declared. 

“Can I put you down?” Cecil asked, swaying a little himself. Carlos held out a hand, hoping fiercely that nobody was going to fall. That wouldn’t make for a good impression. 

“Yes,” Alba answered. She paused. “I might hit my head on the ceiling if you don’t.” Cecil laughed and set her down, and she scurried off, leaving the two alone. 

Carlos found himself caught in Cecil’s eyes, something that happened a lot. There was something about his eyes when he laughed that Carlos wanted to hold onto. He couldn’t help it. Cecil’s job was stressful, Carlos knew that; and he didn’t laugh as much as Carlos wished he would. 

Cecil must have noticed him staring, because he leaned over and planted a short kiss on Carlos’ lips. “What?” 

“Love you,” Carlos said, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever meant anything more. 

“Love you too,” Cecil echoed, and even though Carlos didn’t know it, Cecil meant it just as much.

**Author's Note:**

> This was tough for me to write, but I think it turned out okay. If you like it, let me know, either on here or at my tumblr at officialbatbrat.tumblr.com. 
> 
> Thanks for reading <3


End file.
